Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ »From its place(s) of origin in India or China ca. 3,000 BC, the use of rice spread to the Middle East, where it was also cultivated in pre-Islamic times, albeit in limited areas such as Mesopotamia and Jordan. Knowledge of rice spread slowly among the classical cultures of the Mediterranean; its diffusion westward as a cultivated crop is evident in Islamic times and references to its cultivation in al-Andalus from the 4th/10th century are numerous.« – D. Waines, »al-Ruzz«, in EI².
▪ Canard: »[Le riz] apparaît très anciennement dans l’Inde et en Chine. De l’Inde il fut introduit dans les pays iraniens, de là en Mésopotamie, puis en Syrie et enfin en Égypte. Ultérieurement il apparut dans certains pays d’Europe. Dans 1’antiquité, Strabon le signale dans 1’Inde, la Bactriane, la Susiane, la Babylonie et la Basse Syrie.«
▪ Littmann’s (1924: 15) assumption that rice came to Europe via the Persians is probably still correct. Therefore it is quite safe to search for the source of Grk óryza —the ancestor of most Eur words for ‘rice’—in an Iranian language. Since the Arabs, too, seem to have become acquainted with the cereal through the Persians, Ar (ʔa)ruzz is likely to stem from the same source as Grk óryza rather than from the Grk word itself (Rolland2014). ▪ Lexicographers have it that the form ruzz is more colloquial, while ʔaruzz is the variant used »among persons of distinction« (Lane).
▪ DRS seems to regard the var.s ʔurz and ʔuruz(z) as the most original ones in Ar, perhaps of Iran origin.

hist

▪ …

cogn

DRS 1 (1994)#ʔRZ-3: nHbr ʔōrez, Aram ʔūrzā, Ar ʔurz, ʔuruz(z), Soq ʔírhez, Mhr ḥayrez, Śḥr ʔiróz ‘riz’.

disc

▪ Engl rice, (mC13), from oFr ris, from It riso, from Lat orīza, from Grk óryza ‘rice’, via an IndIran lang (cf. Pashto vriže, oPers brizi), ultimately from Skr vrīhí-s ‘rice’. The Grk word is the ultimate source of all Eur words (Welsh reis, G Reis, Lith rysai, SrbCroat riza, Pol ryż, etc.). Introduced 1647 in the Carolinas – etymonline.com.
▪ Kluge2002: (As previous, adding that) oInd vrīhí‑ is of obscure etymology, perhaps of Sem origin. Rice came to Europe via the Arabs.
▪ Nourai (and after him Rolland2014) give 3 Pers and 3 Av words: Pers oroz, varīzeh, berenǧ, and Av brīzi, vrinǧ, urvinǧ.
▪ Lokotsch1927#1733: Ar ruzz, from < Grk óryza, from some Oriental source. From Ar (with def.art.) ar-ruzz are Span Portug arroz, Sard arrosu, Catal arros etc.
▪ Landberg1923 notes that some Ar lexicographers also give runz as a var. (Ṣiḥāḥ says that both ruzz and runz are coll. for ʔaruzz).¹ Landberg thinks that the dialectal runz could be a dissimilation of ruzz, but considers also the possibility that it was the other way round, i.e., ruzz was secondary, the result of an assimilation, in which case, he says, runz would be the primary form »et le grec óryza proviendrait alors de l’arabe ou de l’aram.«

1. Lane registers even more var.s: ʔaruzz, ʔuruzz, ʔurz, ʔuruz, ʔaruz, ʔāruz, ruzz, runz. According to Lane’s sources, ʔaruzz is »the form commonly obtaining among persons of distinction«, ruzz that »commonly obtaining among the vulgar«, and runz »of the dial. of ʕAbd al-Qays«.

west

▪ See DISC above.

deriv

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